LETTER | Recently, there was an interfaith forum held at the Church of St Francis, attended by 200 participants represented by various faiths such as Buddhism, Bahai, Islam, Taoism and Hinduism.

The theme was “Malaysia Madani: A Determined Quest for Wholesome National Unity". The forum was inspiring and animated, bringing fresh insights to the participants and giving emphasis to moving away from tolerance towards awareness.

The questions arise as to how far it reaches all Malaysians of all ages, adults, youths and children of all races and genders.

The world seems to be moving towards polarisation of various dimensions, especially religious polarisation, as it was articulated by our prime minister at the United Nations General Assembly.

So, what is Putrajaya doing about harmonising religious adherents of various faiths?

How are we going to make or bring about religious awareness and understanding among Malaysians?

What are the approaches and pedagogy available at the kindergarten and school level to bring about awareness and understanding?

If we were to ask any schoolchildren or youths, about their knowledge of other faiths besides their own, many have little or no knowledge of other faiths.

For years, we have been nurturing people to be in their own cocoons, not allowing Malaysians to know other faiths and leaving it to themselves to acquire knowledge in whatever form and substance, which may be fake.

For example, Islamabhopia. In recent times, many non-Muslims view Islam negatively due to poor messaging, mostly due to the internet.

To avoid such phobias of all faiths, the government must have the political will to introduce a curriculum of drawing common denominators from all religions to make Malaysians understand and become aware of other faiths.

A special high-powered committee of think-tank must be set up by the government to draw out the curriculum, whereby its outcome must be about having future generations understand other faiths and appreciate them.

This will bring about integration in the religious dimension which is completely absent. This is a serious matter which needs to be looked into by the current government.

As of now, we are polarised racially by the politicians' antics, with the concept of divide and rule, but if religious awareness and understanding are instilled among Malaysians through a school curriculum, we will be unleashing a trajectory to unite and integrate Malaysians.

The government must take this seriously, failing which, it may become a ticking time.

And I end this statement with a quote from US civil rights movement leader, the late Martin Luther King: "We must learn to live together as brothers and sisters or perish together as fools.”

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.